01 · Product name
Instaloader
Download public Instagram media with captions and metadata.
Published by Instaloader project.
In short
Instaloader is a free Python program for downloading Instagram photos and videos along with captions and other metadata. The project site documents a pip install and a Python module of the same name. The docs page reviewed here listed version 4.15.4. Private profiles, stories, and saved posts need a session you already control. A download is a copy of a post. It is not proof of who runs the account.
Product pricing strategy
02
Free
Instaloader is free. You do not buy a seat to use what the project publishes.
Yes. It is an open-source Python project. Instagram’s own limits still apply when you use it.
Utility and features
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Instaloader’s own site describes the job in one line: download pictures or videos with their captions and other metadata from Instagram. With Python installed, the documented path is pip3 install instaloader, then a profile name on the command line. The same project imports as a module. The docs also say it can save comments, geotags, and captions, and that it notices when a profile renames itself.
- What it saves. Media, captions, and other metadata the docs name, including comments and geotags when they are present.
- How you run it. pip install, then the instaloader command, or the Python module. The project site is the manual.
- Whose session. Private material needs a session you control. A public profile does not become ownership evidence because you archived it.
Public profiles are the ordinary case. Private profiles, stories, feeds, and saved media are documented, and they require an Instagram session the operator can already use. This directory does not describe how to obtain someone else’s session. A file on disk is what that profile showed when you downloaded it. Sherlock still answers a different question: where else a username string appears.
- 1
Install from the project site with pip, into an environment you control.
- 2
Download a public profile you are allowed to archive. Keep the captions with the files.
- 3
If a geotag is present, treat it as a field on that post, then verify it.
- 4
Use a login session only for an account you can already open.
Caveats
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Instaloader is a free tool for downloading public Instagram content, and content your own login can see. It is not a private-account bypass. Instagram can rate-limit, challenge, or break the tool at any time.
An archive is a copy of what was public when you fetched it. Captions and timestamps can be incomplete if the fetch was partial. Do not present the folder as the whole account. Respect the platform’s terms and the privacy of people in the photos. A login you use must be one you are allowed to use.
Screenshots
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Potential use cases
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- A public Instagram profile is already in the case and you are allowed to archive what it shows the public. Run Instaloader against that profile. The output is the posts, captions, and timestamps the tool could download while they were public. Work from a copy. If the profile is private, the tool does not get in, and this page will not describe a bypass.
- You need captions and timestamps for a profile you can already see while logged in as an account you are allowed to use. Save that metadata with the files. The output is a local archive, which can break when Instagram changes the site. Record the date you pulled it. A later deletion on the platform does not delete your copy, and your copy is only as authorized as the collection was.
- The tool documents a profile rename as a directory rename. When that happens, the output is two folder names and the fact of the change. Confirm on the live profile if it is still public. Do not infer that the old name and the new name are the same investigation subject without looking. Rate limits and login challenges are Instagram’s. This listing does not quote a number.
Hard cases
The case where the first result is easy to over-read.
The profile went private halfway through
You have a partial folder and a later error. The finding is the posts you actually saved, with the timestamps in those files, plus the fact the rest was not retrieved. Do not rerun with someone else’s credentials to finish the set. If a story or a highlight was never in the download, do not describe it. Note the tool version and the time the run stopped.
Questions
Is Instaloader free?
Yes. It is an open-source Python project. Instagram’s own limits still apply when you use it.
Can Instaloader open a private account you do not control?
No. The docs tie private profiles, stories, and saved media to a session. Use an account you can already open.
Citations
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Titled sources. These public pages are what the quotes on this listing come from.
Product
Instaloader documentation
https://instaloader.github.io/Documentation
Instaloader repository
https://github.com/instaloader/instaloader